Lang House and Garage

• 1952 - 1952
• 81 Hatton Street, dwelling 00056:442:B33678
• 1955 - 1955
• 81 Hatton Street, garage 00056:502:B37634
• 1960 - 1960
• 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions 00058:160:C7483
• 1961 - 1961
• 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions 00058:214:C9725
• 1970 - 1970
• 81 Hatton Street, carport 00058:668:C30723
• 1970 - 1970
• 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions and alterations 00058:701:C31992
• 1998 - 1998
• 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions and alterations 00078:2367:41081

• 1955
• Henry and Octavia Lang
• unknown
• John and Jo Beaglehole

Not assessed

The Lang House is one of the seminal buildings of post-war New Zealand Modernism. Designed from a European Modernist perspective that considered every aspect of house design in relation to living and executed in Plischke’s signature modernist idiom, it represents many of the essential formal and ideological qualities of the International Style. It is given a distinctly New Zealand flavour (in deference to the Lang’s budget) by its construction and cladding in timber, rather than the pure Modernist industrial-age materials of concrete and steel, a quality also evident in other Plischke-designed houses.

The house has many typical Modernist characteristics, including large expanses of glass, planar forms (particularly the flat roof) and rationalised open-plan design. They house strays from the Modernist line in its construction in timber, rather than industrialised steel and concrete. The limitations on the expression of Modernist design ideals related to this form of construction and the finishing materials, typical of the majority of post-war New Zealand houses, give it a strongly local flavour.

As it stands today, much of the original house plan remains. The small entrance area lets on to the living room and kitchen; the living space, which overlooks the extensive garden, is open plan with a polished matai floor. The living space was originally divisible with moveable screens to separate the areas when needed but was removed when the living room was altered by Fantl; a curtain delineates the line of the screen today. Similarly the two northern bedrooms were divided from the living areas with moveable screens to enable the entire front of the house to be opened up. The toilet and bathroom and two back bedrooms are accessed off a short passage; an internal stair now provides access to the lower level of the house. Plischke’s favoured built-in furniture is well represented in each of the original rooms. The basement, a part of the original design but staged in its construction, looks out to the garden with large windows.

Fantl’s two 1970s extensions (to the living area and the back bedroom) were conceived sympathetically with the house and read as in integral part of Plischke’s design. The large sliding doors to the living area, enabling it to be opened to the garden, are a favoured Plischke feature originally sacrificed to the limited budget. The back bedroom continues the theme of the house; the strangely angled back wall follows the property boundary.

The house is clad with bevel-back timber weatherboards and trimmed with timber joinery. The large over-sailing roof with its prominent clerestory windows (and even more prominent, if stylistically inappropriate, modern solar water heater) is clad in long-run profiled metal, a replacement of the original membrane roof material which further adds to the local flavour of the building.

Timber

The Lang House is located in a residential area off the cul-de-sac at the end of Hatton Street and close to Johnson Hill Reserve. It is situated on the downhill side of the road on a sloping section that has an open aspect to the north and west. It is surrounded by mature trees and plantings, and although the nearest neighbours are physically close, the dense vegetation and sloping topography of the area confers a great deal of privacy to the house.

The garden, originally designed and planted by Anna Plischke in keeping with the design of the house, survives much in its original configuration today, albeit with 50 years of plant growth which has somewhat changed its original appearance. The garden is terraced to turn the slope of the land to advantage. Conceived as integral part of the house, in keeping with Plischke’s “total design” philosophy, the formal design of the garden significantly enhances the architectural values of the house; the house in turn makes a strong positive contribution to the garden.

The site is bordered with a high fence which provides privacy, and renders the house invisible, from the street. The house and garden, beyond maintaining the open character of the nearby area, makes little contribution to the streetscape. The sole out-building on the site is the garage/car-port at the north-eastern boundary corner.

The nearby area consists of the Reserve and single residential dwellings scattered along the hillsides. The wider setting is central Karori, which is principally a residential area.

• Architectural

  Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

  Lang House and garden, conceived as an architectural whole, together have significant aesthetic value and illustrate the key Modern ideal of every element of a house having consistent design values (Plischke’s ‘total design”). The principal aesthetic values of the house lie in its simple Modernist lines and uncomplicated external form, emphasised by the broad over-sailing roof, and are enhanced by the use of local materials, including the timber cladding and slender timber joinery, and in its integration with the garden.

• Group

  Is the item part of a group of buildings, structures, or sites that taken together have coherence because of their age, history, style, scale, materials, or use?

  The Lang House is a significant piece of post-war Modernist architecture in New Zealand. It has group value with other Modernist houses of the era in New Zealand, including Plischke’s Sutch house and others, local Modernist houses of the day, including Schwartzkopf’s Lilburn House in Thorndon, and houses designed by the Architectural Centre in Wellington and The Group in Auckland, amongst others, all of which reflect the solid establishment and development of the Modernist design movement in New Zealand after the second world war.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

  Lang House is one of Austrian architect Ernst Plischke’s best known designs. This would be significant enough architecturally were it not that it was commissioned and owned by his step-son Henry Lang, one of the most influential figures in New Zealand public service during the latter half of the 20th century. The story of the Plischke-Lang family, their immigration to New Zealand and their subsequent achievements is a compelling one and gives the house great historical significance. This house is a unique testament to the family’s origins and their aesthetic and intellectual interests.

• Technological

  Does the item have technological value for its innovative or important construction methods or use of materials?

  It has technical value as a largely unmodified example of Plischke’s domestic work and for its expression of the integration of Modern design concepts with the limitations of timber-framed construction.

• Identity/Sense Of Place/Continuity

  Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

  Lang House is a key structure in the introduction of Modernist architecture to Wellington and New Zealand.

• Authentic

  Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

  The house has retained a high level of authenticity in the fabric, later additions, and garden.

• Rare

  Is the item rare, unique, unusual, seminal, influential, or outstanding?

  Lang House is an outstanding work on the important Modernist architect Ernst Plischke.

• Representative

  Is the item a good example of the class it represents?

  The house is an important representative example of the so-called “mid-century” Modernist school of design in New Zealand.

• Importance

  Is the item important for any of the above characteristics at a local, regional, national, or international level?

  Lang House and garage are important at a local level.

• Bartley, A. ‘Modern Masterpiece’. New Zealand Historic Places, no. 74, 1999
• Kernohan, D. ‘Ernst Plischke – Houses in Karori’. The Stockade, no. 28, 1995
• Martin, J.R. ‘Lang, Henry George 1919-1997’. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography,
• Murray, Russell. ‘Lang House, 81 Hatton Street, Karori’. Heritage Report for Wellington City Council, 2006.
• Nelson, W. ‘Historic Place Assessment Lang House, Wellington’. New Zealand Historic Places Trust, 1999
• Tyler, Linda. 'Plischke, Ernst Anton - Plischke, Ernst Anton'. From the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 30-Oct-2012. Last accessed August 2013.
• Archives: 31 Oct 1952, 81 Hatton Street, dwelling 00056:442:B33678
• Archives: 15 Mar 1955, 81 Hatton Street, garage 00056:502:B37634
• Archives: 19 Oct 1960, 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions 00058:160:C7483
• Archives: 19 Dec 1961, 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions 00058:214:C9725
• Archives: 19 Mar 1970, 81 Hatton Street, carport 00058:668:C30723
• Archives: 27 Oct 1970, 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions and alterations00058:701:C31992
• Archives: 1998, 81 Hatton Street, dwelling additions and alterations 00078:2367:41081

Not available

Not available